joe134cd

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Posts by joe134cd

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  109

  Why disfellowship must be eliminated for the survival of the WT itself

  by TheScientist in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topic i digress about why the watchtower relaxing the rules of disfellowship is essential for its survival.

  many things i'm going to say are not my ideas, some are, the point is, i'm condensing everything in a logical and concise way.. the first thing we have to keep in mind is that the wt's main objective in instituting disfellowship has always been not to lose members because of the damage that a dissident could do, or to avoid gaining new members because of the bad reputation of a confessed sinner in the his/her region.

  in the end, the more active members, the more money to the coffers.. in this case of disfellowship due to apostasy, to avoid any spark, texts were sought out of context that even prohibited saying "hi".

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  joe134cd

  To stop the shunning would mean getting sued out of existence. Just not an economically viable option.
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  109

  Why disfellowship must be eliminated for the survival of the WT itself

  by TheScientist in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topic i digress about why the watchtower relaxing the rules of disfellowship is essential for its survival.

  many things i'm going to say are not my ideas, some are, the point is, i'm condensing everything in a logical and concise way.. the first thing we have to keep in mind is that the wt's main objective in instituting disfellowship has always been not to lose members because of the damage that a dissident could do, or to avoid gaining new members because of the bad reputation of a confessed sinner in the his/her region.

  in the end, the more active members, the more money to the coffers.. in this case of disfellowship due to apostasy, to avoid any spark, texts were sought out of context that even prohibited saying "hi".

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  joe134cd

  I agree that the JW demographic consists of mainly elderly people, for two reasons.

  (1) I heard from an orthodox PIMI relative the other day that she had attended 25 funerals in the last 12 weeks. The are dropping like flies.

  (2) Before I physically left the JWs, I had the, uh-hum, privilege of counting the meeting attendance. 2/3 of those in the hall were 50+. This was almost 11 years ago. Another thing I noticed, both in the hall, and at bigger functions, were the sparing amount of 18-30 year olds. Very slim pickings indeed. It also makes me wonder about the genetic pool of potential mates. Due to the strict rules on marriage choices and sex.

  I had a JW relative get married recently. To be honest other than the religion, they are 2 people who never should have got together. I think if they hadn’t of been JW, the whole thing would have fizzled out with been boyfriend/girlfriend. I noticed at a family function I attended that they were sitting at opposite ends the room. The father in law, although he watches what he says, isn’t too impressed with his new daughter in law. But then again, with that kind of environment, and choices, what do you expect.
• 
  109

  Why disfellowship must be eliminated for the survival of the WT itself

  by TheScientist in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topic i digress about why the watchtower relaxing the rules of disfellowship is essential for its survival.

  many things i'm going to say are not my ideas, some are, the point is, i'm condensing everything in a logical and concise way.. the first thing we have to keep in mind is that the wt's main objective in instituting disfellowship has always been not to lose members because of the damage that a dissident could do, or to avoid gaining new members because of the bad reputation of a confessed sinner in the his/her region.

  in the end, the more active members, the more money to the coffers.. in this case of disfellowship due to apostasy, to avoid any spark, texts were sought out of context that even prohibited saying "hi".

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  joe134cd

  “Things could be worse than they let on.”

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/4801405261447168/comparison-between-jws-lds-sda-mexico
  

  This may help answer that question about the truthfulness of wt reporting methods. Like slim said, it’s when you start comparing other groups, that are similar to Wt, that you realise how well and truthful they are.

  Speaking for my own country. Which could be described as a wealthy western country. The census figure has always been, and still is presently, twice that reported by Wt. I’ve heard similar reports anecdotally as well. Interestingly though, I will say, that over the years there has been a slight decrease in the census figure. I explain this in terms of the people leaving the religion, are now not leaving because they can’t be bothered going, but still identify as a jw in the census. But leave because they disagree with the doctrine or the JW culture, hence they don’t identify in the censes. I think the dynamics in people leaving has changed, due to availability of information. However that been said the figure is still roughly twice that of wt.
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  266

  Where is Tony?

  by Athanasius in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on february 22, 2023, anthony morris iii was officially removed from the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.

  a few months later it was revealed that the watchtower bought him a house in lumberton, north carolina.. however, and correct me if i am wrong, since leaving the gb nobody has reported seeing tony attending jw meetings or participating in field service.

  in fact nobody has reported seeing him anywhere, not even at a local liquor store.

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  joe134cd

  I’ve said this before. I’m surprised they placed him in the house they did. You virtually can get access to his front door. That guy needs better security, and a gated community would have been far more appropriate. It not only guarantees his safety, but makes it more difficult for someone to take a photo of him in an unfavourable situation. I don’t think the guy has kicked the booze.
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  38

  The elders came calling. 😹

  by MissDaSilva in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this afternoon just after lunch.

  i spotted 2 of the nicer elders in the congregation walking up the drive.

  i didn’t answer the door.

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  joe134cd

  Desirousofchange = It’s kind of hard to explain my exit from the JW’s. I have spoken of this quite often in previous posts over the years. The best description I could give is been up set that you weren’t invited to party that you didn’t want to go to in the fist place. Don’t get me wrong, elders were the last people I wanted to talk to while transitioning from PIMO to POMO. I’m convinced, had I of, I would have been DFed as an apostate. But after a consistent effort to the cult over 4 decades, it would have been nice to have known that I was given some thought. That’s why I’m thankful my exit was reasonably stress free, compared to other experiences I hear of. So far I’ve never even been close to 2 elders knocking on my door and I’ve had girlfriends who I’ve been spotted with. So much for going after the lost sheep,

  It confuses me really. How an organisation that is so HELL BENT! on recruiting members. Spending (allegedly) billions of hours recruiting, and yet it dose so little to keep its existing members. I went to a sales meeting the other day and the speaker made an interesting comment, “it takes 5 times more effort and money to get a new customer than what it takes to keep an existing customer happy.” Wt could learn from this.
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  38

  The elders came calling. 😹

  by MissDaSilva in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this afternoon just after lunch.

  i spotted 2 of the nicer elders in the congregation walking up the drive.

  i didn’t answer the door.

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  joe134cd

  Just to carry on from my previous post. For me fading was the best. When my last remaining PIMI JW parent dies, then perhaps DAing with my middle finger up to them may be an option. Though, due to the time that I have been out. I don’t think this will happen as I can’t see what it will accomplish. But it is still a card I can pull if I so decide to. F*#k you watchtower, you really annoy me.
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  38

  The elders came calling. 😹

  by MissDaSilva in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this afternoon just after lunch.

  i spotted 2 of the nicer elders in the congregation walking up the drive.

  i didn’t answer the door.

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  joe134cd

  Tbh I’m not a big fan of leaving with a JC. Recently I had a close JW relative die, who I had cared for. I was thinking how much smoother things were. It allowed for me to organise the funeral, the hall, person to give service with no trouble. I was very pleased with how things went, and to be fair I really didn’t have to do anything with regard to catering or cleaning up, for which I was most grateful. Mind you this relative probably would have done the same for someone else.

  Regarding my fade, and I’m approaching my 11 year since I last attended a formal meeting. My experience was quite different to most. As I heard absolutely nothing from any elder. To the point of, I don’t know weather I take their lack of interest as an insult, or as a blessing, as I allowed me to slip out the back door with pretty much no effort. At the time I really didn’t want to deal with elders, and had I of, i probably would have been DFed for apostasy.

  Despite my personal views on this cult. I still interact with them if I see them on the street etc. although I do realise this is on the condition of keeping my mouth shut. Hey, they are happy with them been them, and I’m happy with me been me. So let’s find a middle ground where we are both happy.
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  9

  Load is getting lighter and yolk so kindly it’s hardly there👏

  by jehovaxx in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i heard an answer recently about how jesus said my yolk is kindly and my load is light.. he actually as good as said jwlite but not in so many words.. he said jehovah and jesus know it’s getting harder in these critical times so have made the load even lighter and the yolk even more kindly with padding.. all the changes recently, no more reports, beards allowed it’s jw lite with actually calling it such.

  zoom meetings and ministry groups, new meeting format in january that is so easy there is no preparation needed.

  anyone could turn up on the day not even having looked at the material and give any item as it’s all on rails.. people were talking after the meeting “there is so much new light it’s as if jesus is saying we know you are finding things hard, here let me make the load even lighter still.”.

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  joe134cd

  People like that are better off left there. Sadly my father is also one of them.
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  6

  If AMG III would return now

  by Gorb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if amg iii would return now to the congregation, he would be mad because of:.

  - rank & file and elders not reporting fs time, very recent an issue to bring someone in highest correction mode.

  - jw's with official beard permission .

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  joe134cd

  I can’t help but think tomo 3 may have been the person standing in the way of things moving forward. This combined with his drinking and loud mouth were what got him axed.
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  23

  Broadcasts, Are they just a distraction?

  by KerryKing in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  the recent broad casts about not handing in time sheets, and then about beards, especially the beards, it seems so trivial, are those talks only released in order to distract the followers from the recent court case they lost on spain, from the csa cases, the kh sales and so on?.

  i reckon they're taking their lead from the media, distract and divide tactics..

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  joe134cd

  St George - you forgot to mention about their day in court in New Zealand.